Lying Game
by SquirrelISDead0304
Summary: The Ra'zac had always had a trusted ally in each other, a best friend who would always be there through thick and thin. Living in a world that wants them dead they never imagined their worst enemies would be each other.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Ra'zac and the Inheretance Cycle is owned by Chris**

* * *

**Prologue**

Black was the entire city without star or moon to light the dark streets. Not it made much difference. Her eyes were far better than yours or mine or any other human's. She cut through the night, a shadow within shadow. The dark cloak draped over her inhuman body swished at her feet.

Abruptly she froze, crouched within a dark alcove. Her head cocked to the side, she listened. She heard the faint dripping of water in the recesses of a nearby alley, the creak of old shutters adorning the windows of the squished overbearing houses all around, the squeak of a rat scampering across the cobble stones a few feet away. Whatever she thought she heard must have been drowned out by the silent noises of the city's sleepy night. She sniffed the air, her inhalation sounding like a whispery hiss. She cocked her head to the side in perplexed contemplation.

The air smelled right, the noises, were normal, but something, something was wrong. It prickled her mind and she couldn't shake the feeling. Letting out a sigh she cautiously extracted herself from the alcove. She could feel a tension in the air, a silence that was slowly rising in a crescendo in the back of the city's other noises.

A scream rent the night, destroying the serenity of the night. The instinct of the ravenous hunter took hold, and with no stars or moon to guide her, she dodged objects obscured in the darkness, that no human could see.

The sound had come from the cathedral; with twisted spires and towers reached toward the overcast ebony sky.

She skidded to a halt, boots scraping across the stone street. A second cry, shrill, alien, and hauntingly familiar rent the night. It was not the sound of some feeble human female being sacrificed. It was alien, and yet sent a strange shiver down her spine. It was familiar, but unrecognizable.

Still hungry and curious she leaped over a parked wagon, using the force of her landing on the other side to propel her onto the roof of a nearby building. Her foot momentarily slipped, but she caught herself and again was running toward the cathedral.

The cathedral's high towers loomed over her head as she crept around the building. Everything was quiet, and foreboding. Every sense was on alert as her instincts screamed of danger. The air was thick ad tainted with the smell of blood, which was weird. The human's didn't hold ceremonies this night of the week, and if there were a ceremony taking place then loud voice of a priest would be preaching and the crowd would be rambunctious and loud as they clamoured for a chance to hack off their limbs in praise.

She sidled up to a window and glanced inside. No priest, no crowds, no rambunctious annoying humans.

Candles that always burned flickered making the shadows of pews within look like writhing thick quadrangle worms. A shadow moved and her hand fell to the hilt of her blade buried within the folds of her cloak. Shifting, she froze. A body of a weak human female laid twisted on the steps before the alter, a dark red liquid that made her salivate drenching the floor. Swallowing, she remained perched where she was. Moving in pre-emptively would be a bad idea just yet.

A shadow detached itself, and a small hunched figure dripping in translucent slime and a dark liquid that flowed from a large gash in its side. Her breath caught in a hiss like gasp. The creature picked up its head, focusing on the window where she stood peering in. It shuddered and pitched forward.

She breathed, as a cold chill bloomed in her chest. It had been a youngling, just hatched. Someone with great power had been here, for it to have died… Which meant she was in great danger and she and her own brood mate weren't the last ones.

They weren't the last….

The cold chill welled within her chest once more and realizing there was dinner to be had at the cathedral, turned and fled into the night.

Several miles away from the cathedral, she stopped running. Her emotions were in turmoil and she couldn't identify one from the other or come up with a decent way to remove them. So they festered and burned.

They weren't the last…. The words vigorously repeated themselves in a seemingly never ending circle. It was the only coherent thought she could grasp as she paused in the darkened street. What would she do?

She rounded a corner quickly shielding her eyes at the bright lights. The bright windows of a bar momentarily stung her after being submerged in the shadows for so long. She could here chairs smashing and shouting and laughter and a shrill feminine cry from within.

She hissed in disgust. Humans were obnoxious and stupid. But they were good food, the barbaric simpletons. A man was thrown through the doors, landing on the hard cobbles momentarily stunned. In a daze he staggered to his feet.

He wobbled as he barely stood. After a moment of swaying unsteadily he took a single tottering step toward the inn.

She hissed and watched as he shuddered in response, despite his drunken haze. His eyes lethargically roved the shadows where she stood. Shrugging off his sudden fear, he reverted his attention to the door again. Apparently he was missing some good beer and an obnoxious fight. Humans really were stupid creatures.

Overcome by hunger, she hissed again. Again he shuddered. She leapt, tackling him to the ground. He fell with a garbled cry. With a sharp beak hidden beneath the cowl of her hood she snipped his jugular, and let out a pleased hiss as the sweet nectar of his life filled her mouth.

He may have been an idiot and a drunkard, but he would do.

She stood lifting the corpse with her. Cradling the corpse in her arms she made toward home.

* * *

Three heads lifted, simultaneously turning toward the entrance of the cave in which they lived. The long plaintive wail of his sister begged to let her in. He chuckled. Being stuck outside was always the doom that fell upon the one sent to hunt alone and for once it was her turn to enjoy the nerves and trepidation of being on the ground.

Another cry of 'let me in' reached them and slowly his mother leisurely stretched, arching her back, extending one at a time each leathery grey wing to the fullest, before poking her head out of the illusionary black rock wall that hid their cave from the outside world.

His mother dove from the rock disappearing from sight. Moments later she reappeared with his sister perched upon her shoulders. She leaped down dinner in her arms and as he approached his nose wrinkled.

"A drunkard."

His sister dropped the body indignantly. "He fell on the ground in front of me. It would have been wasteful not to take. Besides," she snapped, "I removed an idiot unfit to bequeath his intelligence unto the next generation from the human race. They should be thanking me for such generosity and compassion."

He snickered, but said in a serious tone, "there would be more food for us in the future had you given him the chance to reproduce."

His sister shrugged nonchalantly. "Humans are prolific. He may have already."

She pulled back her hood. Her wide black eyes glittered like obsidian in the dim light of a single tiny fire. Her beak had a slightly rounded point on her beak. Unfortunately she was his sister. He diverted his gaze to the tiny flame in the middle of the floor. It was unnecessary, as they could see perfectly well without it, but it was nice to look at.

She breezed past him.

"You're not going to eat?"

Pausing she turned to look at him. "No. I would like to go to bed."

He stared after her as she disappeared into the dark labyrinthine tunnels of the cave. Shifting slightly, he gazed at the floor in mild irritation. That was unusual. Normally she ate- a lot. Maybe she really was tired.

* * *

Settling down the smaller of the two Ra'zac absently stared at the wall. In truth she wasn't hungry, not after watching one on her own kind-a person who shouldn't have even been alive in the first place-die in the cathedral; a place that had been like a sanctuary of sorts. They were the last of their kind. That's what they'd been told. That's what Galbatorix had told them. Did he know? Had he lied to them? After eighteen years of faithful service? She hoped not, but he'd lied to everyone else so why not them too?

What if he even intended to dispose of them after… before their twentieth year? What if he only knew, but had intended to betray them from the beginning? The idea of such treachery left her blood boiling and a foul taste in her mouth. But there was no proof that the king had lied or was even aware of the existence of other members of their kind in Alagaesia. Besides even if by some miracle they hadn't been the last ones alive before they certainly were now.

She closed her beak with a snap of frustration. Something wasn't right. So even if there were others in Alagaesia, how had one wound up in Dras-Leona without any of the four of them knowing? How had a mere hatching found its way in Dras-Leona? Then who would have known where to find it on top of how to kill it? Maybe whoever had killed it had thought it was one of them, maybe they were the real targets all along. Then again it could just be a coincidence.

She was certainly the more quick tempered and aggressive than her brother, so she by nature couldn't hide her thoughts generally speaking. Being able to do so tonight was a feat on her part, especially after what she'd seen. But even as she allowed herself a moment of triumph for such a small thing, a voice in the back of her head asked why she was hiding it from him in the first place. Even that she couldn't answer.

* * *

**Author's note: I know this was probably confusing and as far as first chapters go kind of lame. The Ra'zac never had names in the book, sorry if that confused anyone. I like the Ra'zac, they by far are my favourite characters (there must be something wrong with me) and I've always wanted to write a fanfic that centred around them. So here it is.**


	2. Moments in the Dark

**Author's Note: And the second chapter has arrived. I hope that it isn't too dull. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Ra'zac. They already work for Galby.**

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**Moments in the Dark**

"How much longer will we have to wait?" The smaller Ra'zac asked the swish of fabric she heard some paces behind her. The footsteps wreathed with the light glide of a cloak over the stony floor.

"They'll come when the moon shows itself," voice answered directly behind her. His tone was guarded and cautious and the silence that followed was tense.

"Sister," The shorter Ra'zac looked up to find her brother standing directly over her. She smiled at him as her hood slipped slightly. "You've been quiet the past couple days." Her smile softened, and she tugged the annoying cowel from her head.

Only on rare occasions did they verbally voice their cares about each other for they had no need. They were always together, supporting and relying on each other even fighting and taking blows for each other when the need arose. Actions always spoke louder than words, but her brother felt the need to speak tonight. She must have been a lot more out of sorts than she'd realized, or more inept at keeping secrets from him than she realized if he felt the need to fuss over her.

"I'm fine. I am a little under the weather I suppose but I feel good." She said. It was true, as far physical alment was concerned. She was perhaps feeling a little bit more tired lately than she usually did but it would pass, and with him to care for her she would feel perfect within the next couple days.

"There is nothing else troubling you?" He clicked softly. She nodded. "I'm fine."

Oh but she wasn't. Not emotionally. She couldn't get the scene in the cathedral out of her head. She found it creeping into her dreams more than once, billowing with torrents of fire and shadow as the king demanded their heads brought to him on silver platters, because in all those dreams he found out how indispensable they were and that they had not always followed his orders to a T.

She wanted to tell him, but she felt that she'd discovered a terrible secret that they weren't supposed to know. She felt like a witness who'd witnessed an atrocity and now lived in fear of retribution from the crime's perpetrators, except she wasn't sure who she was supposed to fear. Until she knew, she would keep him in the dark. And even then she would have to mind how and where she explained.

Her brother hissed a silent invective she and proceeded to settle next to her on the lip of the cave, with his feet dangling above a dark precipice. Their shoulders and arms brushed casually as he reclined on his hands.

"The stars are amazing tonight."

Glancing at her hatchmate she nodded. "Yes they are."

"Look, that one is huge." He pointed to something directly overhead that she had to crane her neck to see. A large star, brighter than the rest sat directly over head dwarfing the others around it.

"They large stars like that one move across the sky at a faster rate than others. They even think that they might not actually be stars at all, but something else entirely."

"Really?" the smaller Ra'zac asked staring at with new interest. Then after a moment she glanced at him shrewdly. "Where did you hear all this?"

He laughed. "Some monks were having a discussion and one of them mentioned he had been charting stars and constellations in his free time, and he found that some moved across the sky and only appeared at certain time of the year. I don't know if I believe it personally, humans are always saying things."

She gazed up at wonderingly. "We should look again at the same time tomorrow night and see if it's moved."

* * *

The taller Ra'zac smiled in his hood, relieved to see his sister enthusiastic and talkative as she usually was. He knew something was bothering her: she'd been melancholy for five days, and had been having nightmares. She'd been so since her solo hunt and he worried that he should have gone with her even though he hadn't been supposed to. As long as she could still be happy, he wouldn't press her to reveal thing she wasn't ready to discuss. He would wait.

Periodically he glanced over at her, but she still studying the night sky, tiny little stars reflected themselves in her wide obsidian eyes. She was incredibly beautiful he thought. A desirable mate for any mate, and he hoped deep down somewhere they truly weren't the last of their kind, that she would get to have the family she occasionally mentioned dreaming about. He wanted those things for himself as well, but he wanted them for her more. He had decided long ago he could face the world alone if he had to, he'd also decided her life and dreams were more precious than his own. He was stronger than her in that way. Alone in this world without love or someone to talk to at the very least, she would turn into something horrid consumed by utter despair and hatred. He wouldn't.

Sensing his gaze she smiled at him. Then she abruptly sniffed and stood peering into the darkness. He tasted the air as well, identifying each and every scent he smelled: the petrichor of the rain that fell the day before, the sweet dew of a storm far off the south, the smell of the stone of the caves around them, the tree leaves of the forests surrounding their mountainous hub, and above all those the warm flowing blood of food. Sure enough as they gazed hungrily into the night a torch appeared.

Every full moon two slaves were spewed from the charitable bowels of Dras-Leona's bleeding heart to serve as their dinner and delivery men. For with thundered rattled a rickety wagon stuffed with weaponry and other essentials needed to make assassinations end smoothly for at least the next month if not longer.

* * *

"Ahh," the taller Ra'zac sighed reclining against the cave wall. His sister cast him a glance as if determining whether his sigh was of contentment or of pain as he had spent the entire night stuffing himself. She personally felt full and after she snapped open the bone in her hand for the sweetness inside she intended to call it quits as well. "That was wonderful, and so much more satisfying than a drunkard."

Hissing indignantly she snapped at his shoulder just missing as he slid away from her snickering. Uncracked bones and untouched marrow forgotten she dove on him and they rolled as he tried to throw her off.

Wrestling, beaks snapped at exposed throats and claws swipe against hardened exoskeleton. Bones and shredded remnants of their dinner's cloths were scattered across the floor in the wake of their impromptu melee.

She hated that he joked about the drunkard, she hated the foul taste in her mouth the memories of her reasons for bringing such refuse home with her conjured up. Clamping down on his hard arm she drew a stream of blood and a keening wail.

In crouches, the Ra'zac circled each other excitedly. He was feeling a cramp beginning to form in his overly filled stomach, but he ignored it. He owed her for the pain he now felt in his arm.

Such minor abrasions were usually the results of their tussles, but he felt in the back of his mind a niggle of worry.

He knew that her bite had been rather overpowered for just a playful game, hence his reasons for ignoring the cramping in his side. Drunkard jokes seemed to put her in an unnecessarily foul mood and he again wondered what had transpired on the hunt. Of course he could chalk it up to her ornery temperament and excitement when playing as she was overtly aggressive sometimes. He cocked his head to the side trying to discern something of her thoughts in her obsidian eyes. Anything he might have been looking for was hidden under a glint of excitement. There may not have been anything to see in the first place. She could just be grumpy about his drunkard jibe. He brushed the irritating niggle aside as his sister in a wail of impatience lunged at him. Sidestepping he cackled as she missed him entirely before returning the favour. He leaped, bowling into her side just as she started to turn and they both fell with the cracking of shell against stone.

"Ouch," his sister hissed, as they wrestled once more.

Claws scraped against shell and they sought out every opening they could find in their opponents defences, delivering padded blows. Finally, taller Ra'zac fell still, and his sister froze beak open, straining towards his throat.

Pulling away the Ra'zac stared down at him confused. "What's wrong?"

"I have developed a rather nasty cramp," he clicked up at her. Not sure how to respond she offered him a hand and with his help hefted him from the ground.

The smaller Ra'zac set about, kicking scatted debris back into the nest they slept in during the day, and moving the skeletal remains of their dinner into a nearby corner, where they could pick at the marrow at their leisure, while her brother stood some feet away cleaning his arm and removing the congealed blood from the outside of his exoskeleton.

"How's your wrist?" She chirped. She had bitten him hard, harder than she normally would have, but being made fun of for bringing home a drunkard and reminded of the circumstances that lead to it had set her off. She glanced over at him, to see him bowed over his hand nipping at his fingers.

"I will get you later for that," he responded in the human language, ignoring her question.

"I didn't mean to bite you so hard." She really hadn't. Just because she was angry did not excuse her for taking it out on him. He accepted the apology, checking over his wrist and fingers once more. Throwing the fluff and over materials that made up their bedding she jumped when what could have possibly been a femur at one point clattered next to her, the old bone fragment snapping on impact with the floor.

Glancing over her shoulder, her brother was stooping to pick up scattered bedding as well.

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to." He shrugged, absently stooping for a bone fragment cracked open for marrow years ago.

She watched him, noticing that every so often he tucked his elbow into his side. "What about your cramp?" she asked.

"It's a cramp." Dark eyes met. He could tell she was upset by something. "You worry more than is healthy for a young Ra'zac," he stated. His words were met by a petulant huff of irritation.

Further conversation died between as they both focused on the task at hand.

"Can we go to the cathedral tomorrow?" she asked.

"It already is tomorrow. It's nearly dawn."

She huffed. "If that is what I had meant to say, I would have said today-"

"I'm just teasing," he said, raising his hands surrendering.

For a moment she glared half tempted to whack him, but decided against it. "I want to hear the priest's stories of moving stars."

"Since when do you care about those fat oafs and their ridiculous ideals? All they're good for is food and amusement." He said distastefully as he dropped and armful of bedding back into their nest. She smirked at his words. "I'm merely curious and as you said they are entertaining."

"You want to spend a day cramped inside the cathedral listening to old rotting meat bags bickering with one another about stars?" He asked suspiciously. "That's not like you."

She shrugged jumping into the nest of old white bones and tattered cloth. Her brother followed suit on the opposite end of their ovular depression. They had the entire nest to themselves and the cave in which it was nestled. The only time their parents ventured into this chamber was to eat or deliver tidings from their king.

"Would you like to come-"

"No. I would like to sleep." Her brother said curling into a comfortable position.

"They might have a few unattached limbs lying around."

"No." The male Ra'zac rolled onto his side facing away from the cloaked nuisance sitting across from him.

"You sure?" She asked leaning forward and strained upward trying to peer at his face over his shoulder.

"Yesss," he hissed in the human tongue. "Good day."

There was silence broken only by the sound of the smaller Ra'zac shifting into a comfortable position. "Brother."

"Hmm?" Was the tired response she received.

"Good day to you too." She curled and let her mind go blank as the darkness in the cave merged with the darkness forming in her mind. Like a dark cloud it obscured her vision and dreams soon took hold of her imagination.

* * *

A sudden pain burst through his ribs and the taller Ra'zac sprung up into a sitting position. Glaring, his eyes fell on an offending elbow. The smaller Ra'zac shifted to look at him. It seems her blow had woken her as well.

"Sorry," she whispered, absently rubbing her sore arm joint.

Grumbling and half tempted to bite her for good measure; he soothed his alarmed nerves and settled back into a sleeping position. To his surprise his hatchmate curled against him, her long clawed hands digging into his cloak. After his shock passed he relaxed allowing the contact and complete invasion of personal space.

"Are you-"

"I had a dream," whispered a slow series of clicks. He hissed in irritation, wishing he had the ability to read minds like the magicians of other races so that he could see the dreams that plagued her sleep for nearly a week.

"What about?" he asked unhappily. Something had happened on that hunt that she was refusing to tell him about and he was growing increasingly irritated by her continued silence. However, he loathed the very thought of demanding her to reveal her fears. It made him anxious and scared, not just of the fact that there were things she would willingly keep from him, but also of the idea he couldn't help her. He was doing all he could at the moment by keeping their parents from catching wind of smaller child's inner turmoil. He hoped whatever it was that she was going through blew over before that happened.

"The king." The answer drifted from his chest where her face was partially buried in his cloak. Normally he would have cocked his head to the side, but lying down he found it better to prop his head up and pull away slightly to see her better.

He squeezed one of her wrists both to capture her attention and sooth her frayed nerves. She offered a small smile to him in thanks, but it looked somehow broken.

"Was it that bad?" He wasn't sure if he was referring to her hunt or the dream. There may not have even been a difference anymore.

"He-"

She curled in herself, before worming her way closer to him again. "I hate him." Her muffled voice hissed venomously.

He stiffened. They both hated him, or at the very least distrusted him an awful lot. Just because they were claimed to be his indispensable dragon hunters did not guarantee them safety from his wrath, but never had either of voiced such things openly. There had never been a need to.

Without even thinking he pulled her into a tight hug that she eagerly returned. It was bad enough the wretch plagued their waking hours; they were his vassals, but to slither into their dreams, the only things that were truly their own was horrid. He had no words describing how he felt, and even worse he was loss as how to comfort his sister.

"I do too," he whispered extricating himself from their hug. Perhaps if just spoke he could blabber something that would put both of them at ease. He received no response from the smaller Ra'zac.

He rubbed his forehead; of all the times to get a migraine. He swore in any angry hiss that made his hatchmate look up at him surprised. "Sister." He already had her full attention. "That viper will never harm you. I-"

A clawed hand settled on his beak silencing him. Wide ebony eyes stared at him sadly. "I wasn't the one who got hurt." He squeezed her hand as she pulled it away from his face. It was a pathetic sign of comfort, but it forced a corner of her beaked mouth to curl tiny amount.

Knowing her brother was there; solid and comforting, relieved her troubled mind, but like the last few days it was only temporary. The moment she drifted to sleep that hatchling Ra'zac was bleeding before her eyes all over again, but tonight it had been worse. The young Ra'zac as it had gazed toward the window where in the dream she sat looking through crimson glass had morphed into her brother before toppling to the ground.

He didn't understand what she'd seen. She couldn't tell him just yet.

"Your family is here for you," he said softly. "And we'll always be here."

It was true statement ending in a lie. Theirs was precarious situation, any day could be their last, and yet he wanted to say those things, because he wanted to believe them. He wanted her to believe them. He wanted to wake up one evening knowing that always being was more than an empty promise, but a reality. She knew this, because she wanted it as well. It was a wonderful fantasy that struck a chord even though in her mind she knew they words were partially false. Her heart still hoped for what mind had long since given up believing in. It was painful and relieving at the same time.

She nodded, smiling, allowing the thin membrane that hid in the corner of her eye to slide over her pupils. She thought about the family always being there, envisioning a world in which they were no longer forced to hide. The night sky was theirs to rule over as it was long before her time. And maybe that small flicker of hope that refused to die would assuage her fears and allow her sleep easily for the rest of the day.

**Author's Note: It's chapters like this I wish to shoot myself in the foot for. Overly long and by the time anything remotely exciting happens, everyone's bored reading it. The third chapter I hope proves to be more fun. It's also on that note, I intend to keep the chapters of this fanfic comparatively short to those in my other fanfics. **


	3. The Thin Line Between

**Author's Note: Yea, new chapter. For some reason I really struggled with this chapter. But I'm very happy to be posting it. And I would like to give a very special thanks to Anastasia Adagio: "You are wonderful, thank you for the help you gave me with this."**

**If you like this story you will definitely enjoy **_**The Demon's Lament **_**written by her, it is amazing XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Ra'zac -_-**

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**The Thin Line Between**

Above her head with tails draped over the edge of the cathedral's roof, the gargoyles mocked her from on high with their maws wide open in silent laughter. The Ra'zac glared at them from beneath her inky cowel, her paralyzing gaze having no effect on them.

She knew why they laughed. They found it amusing that she would hesitate to step inside her own cathedral. Tearing her gaze from the stupid gargoyles she glared at the doors with the same ire.

A chill crept along her spine, making her fingers twitch. How odd: not even a week before she was comfortably at ease within those walls. But now she was afraid, and it was with trepidation that she inched closer to the doors. She feared what she would find; evidence that her nightmares about seeing a young Ra'zac dead on the alter steps were more than simply dreams, and worse; what she wouldn't find.

The Ra'zac looked back at the laughing gargoyles, now bent double in hysterics. She hissed, but the sound fell on deaf ears as they merrily ridiculed her predicament. She imagined a human doing the same if there was one around to see and she growled exasperated by her own uncharacteristic indecisiveness.

"Ssshut up!" she snarled and threw open the cathedral doors. One day, she didn't know when, she would climb up there and personally remove them. Just because the humans liked them didn't mean she had to tolerate them. It was her cathedral and it was in her power to do whatever she pleased with it.

She caught the door before it slammed behind her.

Clouds of dust swirled lazily across pools of coloured light in the dimly lit chamber. Across the long hall a priest stood, frozen as he watched her. A taper hung precariously in his limp fingers.

She glared, incensed. No blood red or blue stained the dark slate steps. No bodies. She was looking at nothing. Someone had cleaned up the mess. If the Ra'zac and more importantly the Lethrblaka were a crazy cult's deities, then should not one of their priests have informed them that another of their kind had died within their very cathedral? Fury propelled her steps to the altar and the unmoving priest.

The taper fell, and rolled across the stone floor as she grabbed him. With a feral snarl she hauled him away from the sight of the vestibule behind the altar. He struggled feebly against her iron grip and whimpered when his efforts proved futile.

Having none of it, the Ra'zac threw him against the nearest wall. Trembling with a pent up fury she struggled to reign in her temper enough to find her voice.

* * *

"Hell," he groaned irritably. "Where did she go?" It was a rhetorical question; the Ra'zac could merely follow his sister's scent to find out where she'd gone.

She'd been standing right next to him and he looked away for half a second and next the thing he knew she was gone. Now he was racing through the back alleys of Dras-Leona in broad daylight searching for her.

She was still acting weird, but this was unprecedented and disturbing. What could have happened to have made her act so… he didn't even know what call it. She was hiding something and he felt that she was afraid, but he couldn't imagine what could have scared her so badly.

He remembered her saying she hated the king after a bad dream, but he'd known for a while she didn't particularly care for the Supreme Lord of Alagaesia, and they hadn't seen the King for a few months now. He chittered in frustration. He didn't know what to do about her and her bizarre behaviour. He really wanted her to come to him on her own accord. He didn't want to imagine the fight that would ensue if he confronted her about it and the repercussions liable to follow.

Ignoring the startled squawk of a homeless man as he blurred passed the frightened human he dove into a side alley. His sister's trail was leading him toward the direction of the cathedral. A strange hissing growl emanated from his throat. He couldn't believe she abandoned without a word to look at some stupid star charts. He supposed this wasn't as bad as he feared; she expressed a lot of interest in them when he'd mentioned them. And in the confines of the temple she would relatively safe.

He rounded a corner and he could see the dark stone walls surrounding the cathedral's gardens towering over a small mud daubed houses several streets away. Even with his fears eased by the knowledge she was in their church terrorizing their priests opposed to the general public, didn't lessen his anger. He would rip her a new one when he got to her.

* * *

The priest squirmed in a fit of trepidation; his gaunt body closely resembled a chloroformed bug with its rigid posture and odd pose. It had only been a few moments since the Ra'zac pinned him to the wall, but in that brief span of time, she had already broken one finger and caused a great deal of sobbing on the man's behalf.

"My dearest presbyter," she crooned, allowing the full force of her paralyzing breath to make itself useful. "Tell me, Sssince when has the Church kept sssuch wicked sssecrets from its godsss?"  
"Secrets?" he rasped, eyes darting, lips twitching. "None, my mistress! I say there be none within these walls!"

She inclined her head ominously, giving the pitiful creature a glimpse at her abyssal eyes. "Are you implying that I propagate falsehood? That I would preach heresy within the wallsss of my own temple?" The Ra'zac's voice was black ice in winter time; it promised peril and bereavement of the worst magnitude.

The priest gave a low moan, pupils shrinking back in horror when the rest of him could not. "No! T-that is not what I meant."

"Then ssspeak your mind, human."

Growing faint, her victim bowed his head in defeat. "What has raised our idol's ire, her suspicion? As a humble servant, I shall endeavour to assuage your woes."  
"Oh yesss, you will; be certain of that if nothing else." The Ra'zac glanced once to her side, a swift and spasmodic gesture. Somewhere beyond the building's warped confines, her brother's faint scent became one of pungent urgency. Time was running out.

"You shall give me a map of the entire Basilica, and when I sssay entire, I mean all of it. Do not think for one moment that I'm not aware of ssseveral . . . disturbing aspects of thisss whole place. It hass mysteriesss that I could care lesss about, and othersss that I am very much interested in." just as she had begun to let the cleric down, she slammed him up against the wall again with an afterthought of vengeance. "Lie to me or passs along deceitful information, and you'll be at the brunt of sssome very objectionable consequences. Do you understand?"

In tears once more—of pain or otherwise—the priest simply nodded.

"Good." she passed one gloved finger over her quarry's lips, almost gentle with the caress. "I would prefer that this remain a confidential talk from a god to her holy man. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith . . . not by works."

She released him and watched as he crumpled to the floor with pitiful whimper garbled by his continued tears. Slowly he collected himself, grabbed his taper and in an effort to appear as if nothing resembling an interrogation of any sort had just taken place. He seemed to understand the only way to act normal would be to act as if nothing had transpired. At least she could credit him for not being moron enough to flee down the hall, stumbling and sobbing in front of the entire clergy.

Pacified for the moment she asked another question that had been bugging her. "Do you know where the star charts are kept?"

The priest whimpered, fearing another session of interrogation. He turned to face her. "Down the hall, the first right you come to and the last door on the left."

She stared at him smirking as he shifted nervously under the weight of her eyes. Her brother would be outside in minutes, maybe if she hurried-"Mistress, it's not my place-" He shuddered involuntarily under the glare she was giving him. "But I feel inclined to tell you the man who has been charting stars is a loon. He says he's found celestial bodies that aren't stars and he has taken to calling them planetes."

Perhaps, when she was less pressed for time she'd return. In a swish of dark fabric she casually headed for the oaken doors, fully aware of the frightened and baffled stared she was receiving from the priest. Just before opening the door and letting herself out, she cast him one last look back, and uttered a guttural hiss; a final warning before she left his presence and confronted her brother. He nearly dropped the taper.

* * *

She slipped through the door and with a shill cry blanched as a cold dread shot down her spine like molten ice. Her brother was directly in front of her, giving her a glare that was reminiscent of their mother's. How incredibly lucky she'd been, even a second longer insid and her brother would have seen that.

"Brother-!" He was momentarily startled by their sudden proximity, but it quickly gave way to anger. He stood silently, seething, before inclining his head to scrutinize her over his beak in a patronizing way. Feeling like a tiny hatchling she bowed her head shifting nervously, waiting for him to say something.

When he didn't say anything she broke. Daring to lift her gaze and met his eyes searching their onyx depths for something other than anger. What she found was worse and let her head fall to her chest disgraced. He was hurt, by her actions and she felt terrible for keeping something hidden from him, especially something that pertained to the continued survival of their species, and that he had every right to know. Feeling terribly wretched and unable to keep her self-loathing out of her voice she wove a lie out of the truth. "I'm sorry for abandoning you like that, but you had made it clear yesterday that you had no interest in seeing the charts and I didn't feel right about dragging you along."

The Ra'zac mutedly scrutinized her words. He was rarely so silent and usually had the things he wished to say thought-out and rehearsed. Cocking his head to the side he gazed at her in puzzlement. "I would have come with you if you had asked-"

"I know, and that's just it," she raised her hands. "You're always doing things with me and I thought maybe you'd take the opportunity to do something for yourself. I feel bad for dragging you into things and I just-this was my way of thanking you-" A gloved finger suddenly placed atop her beak stopped her rambling. She wanted to tell him. She nearly had, but she needed to know the meaning of what she'd seen that night. She needed to know how that would affect them and until she knew the dangers of her knowledge the only way to keep him safe would be to keep him in the dark. Hopefully, for only a little while longer. She hated, the fact she was lying to him and the way a faint smile now curved his mouth ever so slightly made her feel despicable. She prayed this nightmare would be over when that map was placed in her hand.

"It's not something you need to thank me for and I do appreciate the sentiment. I'm always willing to do things with you, even if I don't want to. Besides I've dragged into plenty of situations you didn't want to be in over the years."

"I feel that you do more for me than I do for you and I wanted to make it up to you," her soft clicks grew harsh as emotions welled up from somewhere deep within. These words were a lot more honest than she'd initially realized and she was startled by them.

Strong arms pulled her into an embrace closing the short distance between them. Suddenly despite the guilt she felt for deceiving him she felt glad she'd done this. How often did they hug? She couldn't remember the last time, maybe when they were a lot younger….

He pulled away, taking a few steps back. "I'm always going to be here to get you out of trouble…and into trouble. I'm your brother." She smiled, humming slightly in the warmth of forgiveness. This was nothing more than water under the bridge as far as her brother was concerned.

Ready to move on, he lightly grabbed her wrist. "Let's go home." Hastily she fell into step next to him. Hopefully he would be so forgiving when she revealed her secret about the Ra'zac hatchling.


	4. Elliptical Path

**Author's Note: It's short and sweet and well passed overdue. I could blame college, and that's certainly part of why this is so, so, so late. I've just… well as my username implies I've been 'dead.' Not really, but don't expect frequent updates. I am at this time on Hiatus. **

**Disclaimer: The usual: I don't own Jack-of-diddly let alone the Ra'zac, which is just as well, because I seriously doubt they fancy idea of enslavement.**

* * *

**Elliptical Path**

"I call them planetes!"

The priest seemed eager to have a captive audience, even if that audience consisted one person who was as liable to eat him as she was to listen to him. But he was a true son of Helegrind and a loyal acolyte of the young deity perched on a stool across the room from him. "And they seem to rotate across the sky in what appears to be an elliptical pattern, and further more they don't emit their own light like stars do."

"Then how isss it they shine?" The Ra'zac asked. The man was excited, though not obnoxiously so and the thrill of sharing his discoveries had kept him talking with no necessary prompting from her. It was nice change; not having to glare at someone. But the real surprise was how his enthusiasm had kept her engaged in the subject.

He was rather thin and smelled strongly of liquor, something the lessons of Tosk were supposed to teach Helegrind's priests to abstain from. Evidently this man had missed that class. Despite the slight stinging in her nostrils his presence was tolerable, but whether that was due to her curiosity over riding her revulsion for his nasty perfume or the sincerity that he spoke with- something that alluded most humans she wasn't entirely sure.

"I'm not entirely sure, but my theory is that they reflect the light."

"Hmm." His statements and theories were interesting, but that what this whole conversation had been. He'd been listing his hypotheses and assumptions, but he couldn't prove any of them, which was disappointing. She'd been hoping for something tangible to stick in her brother's face to prove that there were in fact things besides stars.

"And where does that light come from?"

"The Sun, and possibly the stars around them." He frowned thoughtfully. "Actually… If my Mistress could excuse me momentarily, I would be more than happy to show her." He rose from the chair he sat in to bow. "I found one with a ring around it, and I have seen dots floating around it as well."

Immediately her curiosity was piqued. "That would be fine." She watched as he grabbed a crutch and hobbled to a small linen closet on the side of his room. Everything below the knee cap on his right leg was missing. Undoubtedly he'd performed the amputation himself in a show of devotion to his gods.

Thinking it to be nothing more than a linen closet she baffled to see sheaths of papers, large scrolls, and several boxes taking residence on each of the wooden shelves. She watched as he pulled out a narrow wooden box. Holding it protectively to his chest he gimped over to his desk and gingerly placed it on top of the star charts he'd been showing her.

"I don't know," he said as he opened the box and peered inside with a covetous look of passion, "What ring around it is supposed to be, but the other bodies orbiting the planete disappear and reappear at regular intervals and I'm not positive, but… I think, I think they maybe something very similar to our moon."

"Are you implying that there are worldsss beyond our own?" She couldn't even comprehend the full scale of what his words could mean if he was correct. "Well it is one of my crazier ideals, but I have always believed there is more than just the earth we walk on. Even if it is nothing more than a dark void filled with stars, it's still something."

She gaped at him truly stunned. That priest she'd interrogated was right. This guy was a loon, but she was fascinated by the idea. What would it be like to fly in an endless void filled with nothing but stars? Beautiful she thought. Yet impossible, no one could fly that high. The higher one went the less air there was. She recalled her mother explaining it as they'd flown to Gil'ead many years ago.

"Would you like to look?" He was holding in his hands a polished brass telescope.

She stood, and approached the curious item with interest. "I normally attach it to a tripod by the window over there," he gestured behind himself, "but the tripod is too short to offer you a good vantage point. If I had known that a god would take interest in my work I would have built it differently. As it stands I will have the error corrected as soon as possible." He apologized.

She took it from him. It was heavier than she would have suspected.

"You made this?"

"Yes." He absently smiled with open fondness toward the item in her hands. "I designed every piece by hand based on the specifications of the elven astronomers and converted the design for the human eye. They probably have the answers to your questions already," he sighed, sounding dejected slightly. "What I would give to speak with them," he trailed off as he gazed out the window absently.

"My Lady, if I may ask a small miracle of you… It's a small thing. I would beg that in your wisdom or perhaps mercy as the case may be, that you can allow me to work in peace. A number of my colleagues have made my work incredibly difficult by suggesting that I am losing my grip on sanity. I assure you I am eccentric but not crazy and certainly not a 'Loon' as Talbert has said many times. I have no right to ask but I wish for intervention in this matter…." He shrank back into his chair shivering nervously as the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

"What would you give in return for sssuch a feat?" She asked. Dealing with human squabbles was beyond her care and concern, but she was genuinely curious to hear what he would say.

"Whatever a goddess were to request of me."

She stared incredulously. To think she'd interrogated a man for the information she could have simply asked this priest for. She wanted to slap herself.

She thought for a long moment glaring dubiously from under her cowl. "Remember your words human because I will hold you to them."

Ignoring him and the elated grin he wore she moved to the window, and gazed out into the dark heavens. A large spot of white light flickered amongst the stars. Eagerly, she lifted the scope to her hematite eye. A blurred white image appeared, but a quick turn of a small wheel made the lens focus, and she grinned.

Narrow faint grey bands wrapped encircled a large glowing sphere. And as she slowly focused the lens a single dark spec appeared above the rings.

Intrigued she stood gazing at it. What if there were other worlds out there? Other Ra'zac? She bridled as the memory of the hatchling came to mind.

A knock disrupted her thoughts before they had time to turn into self-loathing.

"Coming!" The priest scrambled from his desk hobbled to the door, the crutch clicking each time it hit the stone.

"Ah, Brother Talbert. I'm glad you grace my study with your presence." His words dripped in a sugary sarcasm that the Ra'zac appreciated. She tore herself away from the planete to observe the new arrival.

Talbert's gaze fell on her and with a look of dread he hastily bowed, before rising and addressing his colleague. "The High Priest has called an assembly and wishes for us to be there. I was sent to collect you, but...um…" His eyes landed on her again.

"We're finished." She set the scope down in its box. "Your theoriesss are intruiging." It was the closest to thank you she'd ever give a human. "Oh thank you so much. I'm so thankful you've enjoyed this evening. Oh-"

"You, I would like a brief word with." She interjected before the priest could continue gushing. One trait all the priests shared was their sweet-words. They'd turned flattery into an art form, and it was something she and her brother found annoying more than anything else, but she had a feeling that this time the priest's words were more than just words. The notion made her uncomfortable, especially after….

Leaving the priest to put up his papers, the Ra'zac left with her acolyte in tow. She led him down the hall before turning into a suitably empty side passage.

Her abrupt stop was enough to elicit the smell of fear from her companion. It might have made her smirk under normal circumstances, but she was too angry, too anxious to feel smug in her powers as a deity and predator.

"Ifinishedit!" The words were a petrified whisper the moment she glanced at him. "Good," her soft words were gilded honey. "I'd like to see it."

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**I'll edit at some point. **


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